What a story!! A perimenopausal heroine battles her way through love, loss and life in general. I cried with Grace, I felt the patheticness of Grace, I felt her rage!

This book is told over one day in the life of Grace Adams. By using flashbacks, we are drip fed what has gone before and what has led Grace to this point in her life. I thought this debut might be a lightweight chic lit book, but I was so wrong. It's the story of one woman's emotional unravelling. Sometimes honest and truthful, sometimes far-fetched and annoying but, once you begin the journey with Grace it's hard to stop in a car crash, rollercoaster type of way. An enjoyable read that I would recommend from a new author that I will look out for in the future. Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for an arc.

Every so often I find myself finishing a book and wondering what type of book it was as once I know what the storyline is, it's hard to categorise it. This falls into that category for me as I know what genre's of books it isn't but it's hard for me to pinpoint exactly which it is other than very good, interesting and occasionally highly emotional!

Following Grace on her journey to deliver her daughters cake, we get glimpses of two previous times also which help to explain the what and why of Grace's predicament.

For me, the biggest part of this amazing read was about the ripples that occur from certain events in our lives and how they affect us and those around us if we don't deal with what happened in a way that means we can move past it. This book was a tough read at times but it was really good as well. I'm going to have to look out for other books by this author!

A talented linguist, Grace finds her life turned upside down as she becomes a mum unexpectedly. The story jumps back and forward in time to show how Grace finds herself on a mission to redeem herself with her 16 year old daughter. I really liked how the author teased out key elements of the story, not giving away too much but enough to allow the reader to understand the characters as events progressed. I like how the book was structured, and the sections separated into time periods, made me want to read on. I found the characters annoying and overdramatic at times, but as the story continued, I became more empathetic towards them. It wasn’t the calmest of reads but the anxious energy from the ‘now’ period features some satisfying fist-pumping moments as Grace stops caring about what society thinks and is laser focused on the task ahead

Grace Adam’s life is in free fall , coping with the peri menopause, a failed marriage and an angry out of control teenage daughter she is making a final attempt to make amends by delivering a birthday cake for her daughters 16th party on the hottest day of the year. Told over several timelines we learn of Graces past and how she ended up in this position. This book certainly takes you through a roller coaster of emotions and had me hooked from the first chapter. A book of love and loss, mothers and daughters and the invisibility of women once they reach a certain age. I will certainly be recommending it to my friends and look forward to more books by this author. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this wonderful novel in return for an honest review.

I initially found the different time periods confusing but this resolved itself the further I got into the book. I would have like some events to have been explored more but totally empathised with Grace and at times had a tear in my eye and laughed out loud at others.

I loved the sound of this book and looked forward to reading it. However, I didn't really take to Grace, so I found it hard to care what happened to her. I wish it had been different, but unfortunately it just wasn't for me.

It’s not often that a book totally resonates with me. Amazing Grace Adams was one of those that absolutely did.

There’s something about Grace that I see a bit of myself in; the neuroticism, the mania and the panic. Currently that’s a bit of me! It’s an uncanny likeness which I’m not sure I should be happy about…

Not to mention we’re both of the same age (just about - She has a couple of years on me 😉) and both have daughters of roughly the same age too.

There is a deeper theme running though this; of loss and grief not just for a child but for herself also. Of no longer being who you thought you were going to be, more like what you turned out to be and that you can do nothing to change that path.

This is a coming of age book for women of a certain age that have become invisible. No longer are we noticed (by anyone) we’re just the support network and domestic servants for everyone else. It’s time we took a stand like Grace did and took ourselves back - and make sure people do take notice of us rather than sweep under the carpet like discarded rubbish.

This review has come from the heart 💔

Former TV quiz show host and modern language expert Grace Adams is in her forties and struggling with the perimenopause. She has just been sacked from her current job, she has a husband who his divorcing her, and a daughter who has left her to live with her Dad. Nor does said daughter want Grace to attend the 16th birthday party which her Dad is allowing her to hold.

To say Grace is having a bad time is an under-statement. When the novel opens she is stuck in an interminable traffic jam on a boiling hot day, on her way to pick up a specially commissioned cake for the birthday party she has been banned from. It all proves just too much for Grace and she finally snaps. She has had enough. More than enough. Far more than we know in fact. She gets out of the car, abandons it in the traffic queue and simply walks away.

But Grace’s journey onward journey proves to be far more than about collecting and delivering that cake. It’s a journey towards finally confronting the truly dreadful thing that happened in the past, that hasn’t been dealt with or processed fully and which is truly responsible for unravelling this family. It’s also a journey to remind her husband and daughter how truly amazing she is; and ultimately to show them that no matter how far Grace has fallen she can find the inner strength and courage to finally face things and start to pick herself back up.

This is an outstanding debut novel. It is powerful and deeply moving and in her main character Fran Littlewood has created a woman who truly is amazing.
Grace Adams is flawed, resilient, funny, and more than a little bit broken, but she also proves herself to be capable, strong, a warrior and a true survivor.

The novel is as cleverly constructed as Grace and the other characters are drawn. As I was reading the novel, I felt that I did not have all the facts about Grace and her past, but, although it is set on just one stifling hot North London day, there are numerous flashbacks to key moments in time, so that very slowly, more and more pieces of the jigsaw emerged, until finally, I had the full picture.

And when you do have the whole story, my goodness it is incredibly powerful and moving. Everything suddenly makes perfect sense and you understand completely. You understand why things are as they are when the novel opens: why this lovely little family has been torn apart; why Grace has reached such a pitch of anger that she abandons her car in a traffic jam and walks away; why she does what she subsequently does (avoiding spoilers here!). The author handles the timeline of the novel expertly and the slow reveal is like the layers of an onion being peeled away, serving to heighten the emotional impact and intensity of the novel.

This is an exceptionally strong debut, with a main character you completely root for and a beautiful and moving exploration of love, acceptance and redemption. I am really keen to know what Fran Littlewood will write next, and I will be reading it for sure.

Many thanks to Michael Joseph/Penguin Random House and Netgalley for an e-ARC of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

Amazing Grace Adams by Fran Littlewood
Published by: Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House.
Publication Date: 19 January 2023
⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️

No Spoilers

Intriguing and original, I really enjoyed this debut novel from Fran Littlewood. I was a little confused after the first couple of chapters but so glad I persevered and just went with it. Grace Adams is having a really bad day making her way across London with her daughters birthday cake. The story unfolds with flashbacks over different times in Graces life and just when you think you may have the story figured out, it heads in a different direction. Kept me guessing and intrigued throughout. Great ending too. I loved it.
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advance digital copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Well didn't take me long to read this at all, really enjoyed it too, was quite deep in places and some bits I found a bit hard to read due to the subject matter, but all in all kept me reading until the end

The story of a woman whose marriage has fallen apart, her teenage daughter has gone to live with her father as their relationship has also crumbled. Add in a career lost to motherhood, the start of the menopause and a mental health collapse - but Grace Adams is a fighter right to the very end. She is not willing to give up on all that she has lost.
apparently inspired by the film "falling down" where one incident is the final straw - Grace is a woman not to be messed with, and I BLOODY LOVED HER!

A really powerful story, but told with real warmth. One of THE books for 2023

An enjoyable but not hooking read. This took me a little longer to read as I wasn't hooked by the writing or story, however I did enjoy learning about Grace and her sad twist

This book was beautifully written, a real love story of both a man and a woman and a woman and her daughter. It was also full of heartache and pain and misunderstood emotions. In all honesty, it made me terrified of my own little girl growing up! But it was lovely to read and those huge emotions and big topics covered within the story all create an incredible story. Genuinely a brilliant read

I really enjoyed the opening chapter of this book as it felt like it was going to be a bit different, but then it split into three timeliness and any twists were signalled well in advance, do there were no surprises. By the end I wasn't sure if the author was telling us Grace and Lotte were victims of hormones - perimenopause and puberty respectively - or Grace had a mental illness. This was a shame as I enjoyed the writing style and would certainly read another by Ms. Littlewood
thank you to netgalley and Michael Joseph for an advance copy of this book

What a fantastic novel this is! Read in an afternoon and devoured with relish. This is the story of a woman told in snatches from different periods of her life and her relationships with her husband and daughter which all builds to a crisis point on the day of her daughter’s 16th birthday.
While this reads as easily as chick-lit it is actually a searing and heartbreakingly honest look at one woman’s arrival in middle age and her emotional unraveling. As someone in her late 40’s I could identify with Grace so much, especially all the dreaded menopause symptoms. And having daughters myself her distance from Lotte was heartbreaking.
Despite it being a great book for us oldies (ha!) to enjoy it is so well written and an act of social archeology and mystery so I think pretty much anyone will enjoy it!
An easy 5stars from me.

What an amazing, wonderful, heartbreaking story that I think every mother will identify with. It's an outstandingly emotional debut novel, inspired by the 1993 film Falling Down, which if you haven't seen, I highly recommend you watch! I think ultimately this book is about love and motherhood. The descriptions of emotions are so real and raw. The way the book uses Grace's love of language as a metaphor for those emotions is so perceptive. A book I definitely need time to recover from. Grace Adams is definitely amazing. 5 stars

Absolutely loved this book and what an amazing debut book by the author loved all the characters in this book wishing the author All the best with this amazing book and this book needs to be made into a film
Many thanks to NetGalley & the publisher for the arc of this book in exchange for this honest review

"Grace realizes she can't trust her own emotions anymore. She can't trust herself. It's impossible to tell where the perimenopause stops and she begins, and she's asking herself who she would be if it wasn't for these chemical enemies raging through her body, hijacking her mind, who she would he if her self had not come apart from her. She imagines she'd be nailing life, sailing through it serenely. Coping at least."

This book spoke to me, not initially admittedly, because it took me a while to invest in Grace, her husband Ben and teenage daughter Lotte, but invest I did. Told from perimenopausal and vulnerable, Grace's perspective over one day, she is determined to take a birthday cake to Lotte's party at Ben's house; it's a dramatic journey, walking across London in a heatwave to avoid a traffic jam, interspersed with Grace's reflections on her relationships with Ben and Lotte. I had questions, including: Who is Lotte's boyfriend? Why did Grace and Ben break up? Why is Grace struggling so?

All is answered and there are some major trigger warnings. You may cry when you learn all she has to deal with, which I particularly related to, being a similar age to Grace and having been dealt some challenging blows during my life. Grace, like me, carries on for herself and for those she loves. Grace is resilient, kind and absolutely 'amazing', I would want her as my friend. Astute, focused and affectionate, this is a poignant tale of a woman on the edge, a debut novel about family drama, loss and hope.

I read this book over a week ago and purposely didn’t do my review straight away as I wanted to think about the book for a while. On the face of it this is a story of a mum trying desperately to get back into her daughter’s life on her 16th birthday by taking a cake to her estranged husband’s house. The dramas that ensue during the journey are somewhat far fetched and sometimes downright unbelievable but I think this book is more about grief, familial relationships and hormonal changes both puberty and menopause. There are flashbacks to events which go to explaining the current situation which, like an onion, reveal depth of the characters. Overall I enjoyed the book and have upgraded the 3.5 to 4.